Book Review: Under the Egg

I picked up Under the Egg on a whim at the Los Angeles Festival of Books while I was waiting for my next panel to start. I spent the next two hours turning page after page, pausing only once to change my location from a bench in the unforgiving sun to a cafe table under an umbrella. The jacket description references The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and I find the comparison to be rather apt. Laura Marx Fitzgerald’s middle-grade mystery of forgeries, smuggling, and stolen art is full of the same wonder and larger-than-life adventure that made E. L. Konigsburg’s novel a classic.

Book Review: Doll Bones

Fresh off my first adventure into Middle Grade with Counting By 7s, I decided to keep up the trend and hop on over to Doll Bones by Holly Black. Although technically under the same umbrella genre of Middle Grade, Doll Bones is a completely different type of story than Counting By 7s. 

Doll Bones, is a coming of age adventure-horror that reminds you of how scary the idea of growing up can be.

Book Review: Counting by 7s

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan was my first true foray into middle grade novels. (Middle grade is for the 12-14 year old reader demographic)

The premise seemed very interesting and it was receiving rave reviews, so I thought I'd be safe and not read a book that would ruin the whole genre for me. And turns out, I read a book that opened the whole genre for me. I need to read more books like Counting by 7s!

This unforgettable book transcends that 12-14 year old age bracket, and should be read by all ages. It is a tale of loss, grief, friendship, perseverance, and triumph that grabs on to your heart and doesn't let go.

Book Review: Safe & Sound

What do you do when the love of your life is tragically ripped away, leaving you to pick up the pieces before you're ready? The premise of Safe & Sound by T. S. Krupa had me intrigued with its promise of a long and emotional journey to self-discovery. The journey was long, certainly, and mildly emotional, but not for the reasons the story intends. Safe & Sound begins with a punch to the gut, but the energy quickly dissipates and sadly fails to reorganize itself throughout the rest of the book.

Book Review: The Interpreter of Maladies

I have been anxiously waiting to read this anthology of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri for several months now. I am a huge fan of her book "The Namesake" and had heard only incredible things about these stories. I can already assure you I was not disappointed. The careful details that are expertly woven into these stories make it too easy to get lost in them. I read each story in one sitting, unable to put the book down in the middle. Some stories I read back to back, and I always felt satisfied jumping from story to story. What is so impressive about this anthology is that Jhumpa is able to cover a wide range of topics, while still maintaining a set of themes and motivations that are present in every story. Each story felt like a lesson that someone whom you looked up to would tell you in confidence to alert you to a situation you may face in your life, and how to be prepared for them. Her characters all feel painfully real, which is both sobering and inviting.

I chose to only review two of the stories for my review today, because I wanted to be able to hash out the stories extensively enough to convey their importance. I hope to review the others later on, and I highly recommend you pick this book up immediately. 

Book Review: Smile

“[Scholastic] also publish one of the bestselling graphic novels of all time: Smile, by Raina Telgemeier. Last year, she published her second book, Drama. It debuted on the list at #2. What was #1 that week? Smile. Who else has done that? Robert Kirkman, and he had to use a television show to sell that many copies!”

That quote comes from an article by Torsten Adair at The Beat (a comics news site), published earlier this year. Smile was one of a few middle grade graphic novels geared toward kids that I’d been curious about for a long time but never got around to reading. However, seeing this quote piqued my interest. What story would I find within the pages of this New York Times best-seller?

Book Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

This book is hilarious. But let me start out by saying that this story isn't, in fact, "absolutely true." It's a novel. It's fiction.

However, the author Sherman Alexie did, indeed, grow up on the Spokane reservation called Wellpinit, just like his narrator. He was born with the same medical condition that could have rendered him a brain dead vegetable at only 6-months-old. And he did, indeed, transfer to the white school 30 miles down the road (something that was unheard of in his tribe.) So Alexie welded together a collection of his experiences to create a semi-autobiographical portrait of what it's like to grow up as Native American teenager on a reservation where everyone thinks you've betrayed your culture.

Among other things, this book contains:

• secret romance novel addictions
• best friends turned enemies
• metaphorical boners
• googling "how to make a white girl fall in love with you" 
• and grandmothers who wear basketball sneakers "because she's got mad skills."

Book Review: Me Before You

If you have a lot of friends who are avid readers, or you frequent any book recommendation sites like I do, then you have heard of this book. From the first time I read the description, I knew I had to read it. It only took one personal recommendation from a friend for me to buy this book, and I’m very glad that I did. Warning: Do not go into this book thinking that it will be all fun and games, because this book is extremely emotional. But the lessons you will take out of it will absolutely be worth the heartache.

The story follows Louisa Clark, a small town woman living in England who has just been fired from her cozy job working at a café. She still lives at home with her parents, who are struggling to support themselves. Out of desperation and necessity, she takes a job as a caretaker for a quadriplegic man with an overbearing mother and a negative outlook on life. Without giving too much away, I will say that the rest of the book explores the relationship between Lou and Will, two people who grew up in the same town but led completely different lives.

Book Review: Eleanor & Park

Having already posted a review of one of Rainbow Rowell's other works, Fan Girl, you can tell we are big fans of hers. But another of her books, Eleanor & Park, legitimately caught me off guard. I was not expecting to fly through it, nor feel all of the things I did while reading. 

Eleanor & Park is one of those books that becomes a part of you.

Book Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of The Universe

It is a huge coincidence that the book I am reviewing today shares a lot of the same attributes as the book I reviewed last month. This particular subject matter, that I will delve into later, is not particularly the type of story that I gravitate towards. That being said, I’m glad I happened upon this book right after This Is How You Lose Her, because they complement each other well. The protagonists in both stories are Mexican American adolescents who are navigating the tumultuous path the manhood, but Aristotle chooses a very different path than Yunior.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe tells the story of two teenage Mexican-American boys who grew up in the same neighborhood.

Book Review: Fangirl

My first book review! Well, here’s hoping we all survive this experience.

I’ll admit, I shied away from reading this book when it first came out because I had a feeling it would hit too close to home. I eyed the cover art (by Noelle Stevenson) with suspicion, yet curiosity. Truth be told, I come from the old school fangirl tradition, one of mailing lists, IRC, AOL chatrooms, web crawlers, and after-school Internet fixes limited by the whims of *gasp* dial-up. But I know the new-school ways well enough. Would I be able to bear a novel-length portrayal of a lifestyle with which I was so intimate?

Book Review: This Is How You Lose Her

I should start off by saying that I went into this book with the hopes that I would come out an emotional wreck. A book hadn't moved me in a while and I really wanted this to be the one that did. But if you, like me, are picking up this book to indulge yourself in some romance, you may want to reconsider. This book is definitely not what it seems from the title, or the summary provided in the front cover. That being said, I was PLEASANTLY surprised with what it actually is; an inside look into the mind of an honest, flawed, emotional and passionate man.

The book centers around Yunior, a young Dominican boy who grows up in a (mostly) single parent household, in a neighborhood where he doesn't really fit in, with a brother who he doesn't understand. The collection of short stories take us from Yunior's childhood until he reaches his late 20s. The format of the book contributes to the overwhelming feeling that the book is being narrated directly to you by a friend who has possibly had a little too much to drink. The stories are so painfully honest that sometimes it is difficult to comprehend why someone would ever reveal such details to another person. They are emotionally raw and told with such intricate detail that it is clear from the beginning how important these specific memories are to Yunior. We start the book wondering why Yunior would cheat on his girlfriend, whom he seems to love deeply. We spend the rest of the book building an explanation from shattered fragments of a man's life.